Skip to main content
Main Menu Toggle
Nina Powell » Weekly Updates SY 23-24

Weekly Updates SY 23-24

Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we talked about how we can be time savers in the classroom. We can do this by practicing to listen the first time, being proactive, cleaning up quickly and having a ready line when it is time to leave the classroom. Saving time ensures that we are spending the most time learning and have time at the end of the day for fun activities like choice time!
  • Students also participated in a talking circle about body awareness. They shared their favorite way to greet a friend and how they feel when someone invades their space, or does not have consent to touch them. Lots of responses were it makes them feel uncomfortable, frustrated or sad. We want to be respectful of others space and stop when they ask us to!
 
Math
  • This week we continued to focus on subtracting within 100. Students practiced using different strategies and number bonds to help them solve problems!
  • The class enjoyed ending the week with some math activities! We played race to 100, the three dice game, roll & add and did some tang math challenges. 
 
Literacy
  • During foundational skills we learned that -kn makes the /n/ sound and -wh makes the /w/ sound. Both of these spellings have a silent letter so it can be tricky to remember the spelling! 
  • In writing rotations students started their animal research books, worked on word sorts, practiced their handwriting and spelling by making picnic sentences and worked on reading fluency!
  • We finished our Goldilocks and the Three Bears book study by reading Abuelo and the Three Bears. Students enjoyed reading he different Goldilocks versions and comparing/contrasting them together!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • In social studies we learned all about community helpers this week! 
  • During science we talked about how things get warmer during the day as the sun is out longer. The class also learned that darker objects absorb more heat which makes them hotter to touch during warm days (compared to objects that are pale or lighter in color). 
RM 100 had a great week of learning, it was so fun to see families at STEM Night!
 
At the end of May (5/29) the class will be taking a walking field trip to Indian Boundary Park! If you would like to come chaperone, you must be an approved Level 1 volunteer. If you would like your status changed, email Ms. Doggett ([email protected]) to be changed to a Level 1. Then, you will need to finish what is required from Volunteer Services. Here is the contact information as well: [email protected] or 773-553-1544. I would recommend doing this sooner than later so you can be approved in time if you want to join!
 
Appropriate Dress for Students: We don’t have a dress code at Decatur, but we do ask that students save head wear for outside (except for religious purposes), and that students wear appropriate footwear for outdoor activities. They need to have close-toed shoes for recess, PE, etc.
 
Social Emotional Learning 
  • This week we read A Little Spot of Patience by Diane Alber. We learned why patience can be important and how we can grow our patience spots!
  • Ms. Cross visited the classroom and read the story Milo's Monster. This story was about when the feeling of jealousy can appear if a good friend might start to play or spend time with a new friend. Sometimes we might also feel anger and sadness towards that friend because they aren't spending as much time with us anymore. A good fix could be to share your feelings with the friend, and ask if you can all play together!
  • We continue to talk about friendships and including others in the classroom. 
 
Math
  • Our math focus for the week was subtracting within numbers to 100. We reviewed the subtract from ones and tens strategies and will continue to focus on them next week.
  • Kindergarten enjoyed spending time with their 8th Grade Buddies this week! They worked on a STEM activity together testing waterproof pieces for a rain boot!
 
Literacy
  • The class loved visiting the book fair during our reading time this week! They have loved reading their new books and have enjoyed reading books that were donated to the class library 😊
  • Students finished their research on their animal this week. Next week we will be starting to make our research books and posters!
  • Ms. Powell worked with groups on reading skills, fluency and comprehension.
  • During foundational skills we reviewed all the letters that can make the /s/ sound (-se, -ce, -ss, -c, -s) and the /j/ sound (-ge, -g, -j).
 
Social Studies | Science
  • The class learned about needs and wants this week during social studies. 
  • In science, we worked as weather scientists to compare data from weather on different playgrounds and used the data to make graphs. We have been keeping data of the weather on Decatur's playground and will be turning it into a graph when we are done!
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Decatur next week! We will be visiting the fair as a whole class on Monday, then students will have the opportunity to visit the fair during the week to purchase any books.
 
It is recommended that you set up an e-wallet for your child so you do not have to worry about sending money to school, anyone can contribute to the e-wallet. Families may create an E-WALLET for their students for cash-free shopping here.
 
Our fair is also online, and books can be purchased by families, teachers, and staff, and delivered to the school if there isn't enough time to shop during the week of book fair. The fair will be live, until May 2, 2024. See the e-flyer.
 
Interested in contributing to the classroom library? You are welcome to donate any amount to our classroom e-wallet here!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we read the story A Little Spot Learns Kind Words. In the book we learned how to say kind words properly when talking to ourselves and others. We learned how to think, choose words and communicate with others in a kind and respectful way, The book also reviewed compliments and the class enjoyed thinking of compliments we can say to one another everyday!
  • Students participated in a talking circle about friendship and shared one way they are a good friend at school.
  • We are continuing to review how to be helpful in the classroom!
 
Math
  • This week students worked on their adding skills when adding two two-digit numbers together! We reviewed and practiced using the adding tens and ones strategies. 
  • On Friday the class created a number sense flower craft with a number from 55-95! They enjoyed thinking and representing the number in different ways. Our classroom feels like spring with all the flowers on the wall!
 
Literacy
  • In foundational skills we learned that the "c" can make a hard /k/ sound or soft /s/ sound. We reviewed this skill during the week through word sorts and phoneme-grapheme. As a class we worked on our reading fluency by reading a story together on Friday. Students brought the story home in their blue folder and it would be a good review to read with them!
  • In writing rotations students enjoyed continuing their animal research by reading where they live and what they do, working on a writing sort in word work, reading comprehension with Ms. Powell and reading fluency practice.
  • During reading, we read Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Williams. We identified the different story elements and compared how it was similar and different to Golidlocks and the Three Bears. We will continue with different versions next week!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We started our final Social Studies unit which is all about Jobs! We started the unit by thinking about why do people work, what jobs are we familiar with and how people work. Students identified a job they do at home or school and drew a picture and wrote about it. 
  • In Science, the class enjoyed being weather scientists by going outside to observe the weather. They reflected on how we can describe the type of weather and temperature outside by using weather-specific vocabulary. 
It was great seeing families at conferences this week! I am very proud of RM 100's growth and we are all excited to finish strong the last quarter together!
 
Mr. Murray also joined our classroom this week to talk about autism awareness and acceptance. We listened to the book All My Stripes and we learned that autism is a part of who someone is and that everyone has different stripes and parts to ourselves that make us unique. The class enjoyed identifying their own stripes and sharing them with the class. 
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we reviewed the appropriate times to talk in the classroom. Many students have been talking and blurting during our whole group learning and we talked about how that disrupts the learning and can take away from learning time. Please review these expectations with your chlid!
  • Students also participated in a talking circle focusing on inviting others to play during recess. We talked about what we can say when we see other people playing and want to join. As a class we also talked about including others during recess and if you do not like what someone is playing, you do not have to play with them. 
 
Math
  • We continued to focus on numbers to 100 this week. Students worked on comparing numbers and then practiced with number order, finding number patterns and working with place value.
  • The class enjoyed playing some math games on Friday! They learned how to play the 100 Tally Marks Game and The Three Dice Game. Students enjoyed playing these with a partner and using lots of math talk while playing!
 
Literacy
  • During foundational skills, students learned a new skill which is how to write plural nouns by adding an -s or -es to the end of words. We reviewed trick words (little, find, into, too, month, been, own, word, work), practiced our phoneme-grapheme skills and fluency building.
  • In writing rotations, students worked on an April Poem with Ms. Powell, researched what their animal eats and looks like, worked on word recognition by playing roll and read, and worked on fluency skills.
  • For reading, we introduced Folktales and Fairytales. We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall and reviewed the different story elements. We are going to continue to read more versions of Goldilocks and compare how they are similar and different to one another.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We finished our social studies unit about the past and future. Students learned about important leaders who made change in the past and the different ways that people can make change today such as writing letters, participating in marches or protests and talking to leaders in their communities.
  • During science we learned about the different words we can use to describe weather. These words are cold, cool, warm and hot. Students learned about thermometers and how they are used to measure weather. We also reviewed the different clothing we should wear depending on the weather outside.
Social Emotional Learning
  • We reviewed our classroom expectations and routines this week! We also continued to talk about fairness by reviewing 'fair' or 'unfair' situations. 
  • Students enjoyed listening to the stories The Story of Fish and Snail and The Duck Who Didn't Like Water. Both of these stories were about friendship!
 
Math
  • Our math focus for this week was all about numbers to 100! Students enjoyed exploring a 100s chart by looking for different patterns with the numbers, organizing and counting objects by 5s and 10s, and reviewing tens and ones with place value.
  • We ended the week making creations out of base tens blocks! 
 
Literacy
  • For foundational skills, we introduced the sounds /v/ for -ve as is twelve, and /r/ for wr- as in write. We worked on dictation and phoneme-grapheme skills during the week with these sounds as well as reviewed the trick words: little, find, into, too, month, been and own. 
  • During writing rotations, students wrote about their spring break, worked on a word sort with the sounds /j/ and /v/, and practiced reading fluency.
  • We started a new writing unit on animal research! Students are using the iPad and PebbleGo as a tool to help with their research. This week they explored the animals on PebbleGo and chose one animal then listed what they know and wonder about the animal. RM 100 did a great job taking care of their materials!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • In Social Studies, we are continuing to talk about the past and future. We learned more about Native Americans and how they lived here in the past. We also talked about who immigrants are how different people came to America.
  • We stared our last Science unit which is sunlight and weather! We read a book What is the Weather like Today? and talked about how we dress appropriately for the weather. Students also discussed how we can describe weather. 
Social Emotional Learning
  • We continued to talk about fairness this week.Students reflected by talking, drawing and writing about something that is fair.
 
Math
  • RM 100 enjoyed learning more about fractions! The class had fun participating in different fraction activities including making a "fourths" cake and a spring scene!
 
Literacy
  • During foundational skills we introduced the new sounds /j/ as in 'gem' and /j/ for 'large'. We practiced spelling and used our phoneme-grapheme skills to tap out the sounds we hear with words that use that /j/ sound. 
  • In our writing rotations, students worked on making spring sentences. They reviewed the sentence components (starting with capital letter, using finger spaces, punctuation and using their best handwriting -- including lowercase letters). At the teacher table students did some reflection about Quarter 3, and reviewed their How-To writing work. These will be shared at conferences when we return from spring break!
  • Students also worked on reading fluency and word work sorting between /ch/ and /k/ sounds. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We continued to learn about Chicago this week! Student's looked how maps have changed over time and compared a map of Jackson Park from the past and today. We also learned all about Chicago sports! Students enjoyed learning facts about the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, Chicago Sky and Chicago Fire. The class also learned about the Chicago flag and what is represented in the flag. Ask them if they remember what one of the stars represents!
  • We finished our unit about forces! As a class, we read a story called A Busy Day in Pushville and students identified a force they saw in the story. The group loved using their pinball machines and worked well collaborating with one another to design and use them.
 
I hope everyone has a great spring break! Looking forward to starting Quarter 4 all together!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we talked about fairness. We read the story It's Not Fair! and students shared about experiences they have had that were unfair. We talked about how it can make us feel when something is unfair and when something is fair, that it is equal. We will continue to talk about fairness in the classroom!
 
Math
  • We started learning about fractions this week! Students learned about halves and fourths. When making halves, we have 2 equal groups and with fourths, there is 4 equal groups. 
  • Read more about the chapter here!
  • We will continue to learn and work with fractions next week. 
 
Literacy
  • We are continuing to read realistic fiction texts and make connections with the stories.
  • During foundational skills, students learned about when to use a 'c', 'k', or 'ck' when spelling words with the /k/ sound. We use the letter c at the beginning of words followed by the vowels a, o and u (cat, cup). The letter k comes before the vowels e, i or y (kite, key) and the letters ck come after a short vowel at the end of words (sock, clock). We also learned the sounds /ch/ and /tch/ as in catch and chin. 
  • In writing rotations students worked on reading comprehension and a fun writing activity about what they would do if they found a pot of gold!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During Social Studies, we learned about what Chicago looked like in the past! Student's also learned about the Great Chicago Fire and the impact it had on our city's history. We will continue to learn more about Chicago next week.
  • Students enjoyed playing and working with their pinball machines during science. We also read the story Room 4 Solves a Problem where we learned about designing solutions to problems.
 
RM 100 had fun ending the week seeing our 8th Grade Buddies and making kindness rocks for the school garden!
 
I am looking forward to seeing families at our Spring Fundraiser this weekend! Thank you for your continuous support!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we continued to talk about ways to help.
  • We read the poem Helping by Shel Silverstein and discussed what was helpful in the poem. Students also discussed if they have ever helped someone and it turned out not to be helpful. 
  • Students listened to different scenarios and reflected on if they were helpful or not helped and shared why. 
  • We enjoyed reading the books Not Quite Narwhal, Perfectly Pegasus and Whether Together by Jessie Sima.
 
Math
  • Our math focus this week was making equal groups. Students enjoyed working with a partner organizing objects into equal groups. 
  • Students practiced recognizing equal groups, and using repeated addition to find the total number in equal groups.
  • Learn more about the math chapter here!
 
Literacy
  • We continued to focus on -ed sounds /id/, /d/ and /t/ at the end of words. Students also learned about -er and -est endings in words. We add -er when we are talking about something more than and -est when it is the most. 
  • Kindergarten worked very hard on finishing their how-to books this week! They enjoyed putting their books together and sharing their work with classmates by having a publishing party on Friday!
  • We are continuing to read realistic fiction books during reading.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During social studies we learned about how communities have changed such as schools. firefighters and methods of transportation. Ask your child if they remember something that has changed from the past!
  • We enjoyed learning about different families through the family interviews! We will continue to share them next week.
  • Students enjoyed making their pinball machines with their table mates this week! They had fun designing their machines and adding different components to make the ball move.
 
RM 100 did a great job being kind, making good choices and listening to have iPad time during choice time! They all were very responsible using their iPads and going on Epic!, TangMath and NatGeoKids.
Social Emotional Learning
  • We continued to talk about being helpful/not helpful. Students received a "helpful situation" picture and with a partner, they talked about what the person was doing to be helpful. 
  • Students also participated in a talking circle where they shared the benefits of being helpful and one way they can be helpful in the classroom. 
  • Ms. Cross came into the classroom and read the story The Boy WIth Flowers in his Hair by Jarvis. This story taught us about kindness, friendship and being helpful.
 
Math
  • We are continuing to focus on numbers to 40. Students learned strategies to help them subtract a one-digit number from a two-digit number.
  • We also learned about repeated addition. When adding three numbers together (7 + 3 + 8), what strategies can we think about to help us solve (use ten facts, count on).
  • Students enjoyed ending the week with math rotations!
 
Literacy
  • During reading, we started learning about realistic fiction stories and read the books Peter's Chair  and  Last Stop on Market Street.
  • In our writing rotations, students finished their final step for out "how-to" books, worked on reading comprehension. Identified the different 'ed' sounds in words and worked on finding words that follow the "doubling rule" in decodable books (i.e. dripped, stopped).
  • In foundational skills, we learned about the "doubling rule" (if a one syllable word ends with a short vowel and a consonant, double the consonant before adding the ending) and adding "ing" to CvCe words (drop the e to add -ing). We are going to continue to focus on these rules and identify words. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We continued to learn about the past in Social Studies. We looked at how clothing and bicycles have changed. Students are going to be bringing home a family interview assignment to interview a family member about thier life when they were growing up.
  • During Science, students invented their own machines! They all were so creative! The class is excited to start making our pinball machines next week!
 
*Please make sure you read the email that was sent about beginning iPad use in the classroom. The class is excited to use our iPads as a tool for our learning!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we discussed how our hands can be helpful at school and at home. We also reviewed that we do not use our hands to hurt others at school, especially because that makes people feel unsafe. We also read the book Helpful Ninja by Mary Nihn. Review with your child how they can use their hands to help! You can even make your own list at home!
 
Math
  • We are continuing to work with numbers to 40 as our math focus. We learned two new strategies subtract the ones and make the next ten. We can use these strategies to help solve our math problems more efficiently by remembering our addition and subtraction facts to 10. 
  • We ended the week by making a place value rainbow craft! Students chose a number between 40-99 and represented the number using place value.
 
Literacy 
  • We focused on another poem this week which was titled Love. Students worked on their visualizing skills and thought of rhyming words in the poem.
  • During foundational skills we learned something called the "rabbit rule" when dividing words into syllables. If a word has a VCCV (vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel) pattern then we divide the word between the two consonants. We also learned the -ed ending can have different sounds. /id/ as in landed, /d/ as in filled and /t/ as in asked. We will continue to review these sounds and spelling patterns. 
  • In writing rotations students worked on their third "how-to" step, identifying words with the VCCV pattern, worked with Ms. Powell on reading comprehension and identified two-syllable words during reading. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We started a new unit in Social Studies learning about the past and future. Students explored pictures of what happened around the world the year they were born. We also looked at the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings from Colorado. Students were very interested about this and liked looking at the different homes. 
  • During science students designed their own pinball machines! We reviewed forces and what an engineer is. Soon students will be making their pinball machines in the classroom.
We had a week of celebrations!  Our room was full of LOVE on Valentine's Day! 💗 Students loved sharing and passing their valentines out to classmates! We enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year with the first and second grade classes this week! We had a special activity in the gym learning about Dragon dances and traditions for the New Year. Students had fun taking turns with ribbon dancing!
 
 
This week students participated in our Personal Health and Safety Lessons.
  • Lesson 1 | Our Happy & Healthy Classroom Community 
    • During this lesson, we reviewed what a community is and that our class is a community. We thought of community rules to follow during our personal health and safety lessons and we have hand motions to go through each of the rules (ask your child to show you the motions! see the picture below)
  • Lesson 2 | Different Kinds of Families
    • We read the book The Family Book by Todd Parr and talked about different family structures. Students learned that it is important to respect different types of families. Students then drew a picture of an activity they like to do with their family.
  • Lesson 3 | Understanding Our Bodies - The Basics
    • During this lesson students learned correct names for private body parts and understood private vs. public parts of our bodies. We read the book Who Has What? All About Girls' and Boys' Bodies by Robie Harris.
  • Lesson 4 | My Space, Your Space
    • Student's learned about respecting one another's personal space. We reviewed behaviors that we may like, not like, or sometimes like (or what is only appropriate for home with our families - kissing/tickling). Students learned that they need to ask consent before giving a hug, high-five, etc. because some people might not like those things. 
  • Lesson 5 | Surprises vs. Tell Secrets
    • During this lesson, we learned that a surprise is when something happens and we didn't know it was going to happen. Some surprises are kept secret at first. Good surprises are information, events or things in which all people are safe and no one is being hurt. When we have to Tell Secrets is an unsafe secret in which someone is getting hurt or could be hurt. For Tell Secrets a trusted adult needs to be told. Students identified trusted adults in their home and in school who they can tell if something unsafe is happening to them. We listened to the story Some Secrets Should Never be Kept by Jayneen Sanders to understand you should always tell a trusted adult if someone is doing something inappropriate to you. 
 
rules
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we read the stories Zero by Katherine Otoshi and The Focus Ninja by Mary Nhin. We worked on our focusing skills during the week, especially how to ignore any distracting behavior or noises. Students enjoyed earning focus stickers during the day!
 
Math
  • We continued to focus on numbers to 40 this week and students learned a strategy called add the ones when we are adding a number to a two-digit number.
  • The class enjoyed moving through math centers on Friday working on a place value sort, 100s chart number puzzle and playing race to 100 with base ten cubes.
 
Literacy
  • During our phonics lessons, we are still focusing on compound words and types of syllables. We continue to review  the sounds /er/ /ar/ /or/ /oi/ /ee/ /oo/ and /ou/.
  • Students worked on their second step for their "how-to" writing, compound word making, recognizing compound words in stories and reading comprehension skills during our writing rotations this week. 
 
We loved ending the week celebrating our 100th Day of school! Students enjoyed being able to visit their 8th Grade buddy and participate in 100th Day activities in the classroom!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we focused on tattling vs. reporting. Tattling is when we might tell on someone to get them in trouble, if it is something we can solve on our own, or telling about an issue that is unimportant. We must Report to an adult if someone is hurt or doing something unsafe, or if we have asked a peer to stop 3 times and they have not stopped. 
  • We also talked about strategies such as walking away, moving to get a sip of water or ignoring any behavior that may be distracting. 
  • Mr. Cross came and visited the class and read the story Looking for Happy by Ty Chapman. This book talked about finding our happy when we are feeling sad, and what things make us happy. 
 
Math
  • Our math focus this week was on numbers to 40. You can read more about the math chapter here and ways to support at home. 
  • Students worked on activities focusing on place value and counting by tens and ones. 
 
Literacy
  • This week during foundational skills, we continued to review r-controlled vowels and learned about compound words and syllables. We will continue to work on these strategies in the coming weeks. 
  • During writing rotations students enjoyed writing their first step for their "how-to" books and working on compound words with Ms. Powell.
  • In reading, we read a poem called "Friends" and students worked on their visualizing skills while they read the poem by drawing pictures. 
 
Social Studies
  • Students are collaborating in small groups to research a famous Black American. This week students chose the person they are researching, read a nonfiction article together about their person and identified 3 facts.
 
**As a reminder, we will be starting our Sexual Health Lessons next week. Please reference an email that was sent to families on Monday for more information. Thank you!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we read the book A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking. This Spot book helped us understand to think like a palm tree because palm trees are bendable and move with the flow when there is change. Flexible thinking helps us when there is a toy/item that we want to play with that is broken or being used. Big emotions may come up if we cannot have it right away, but flexible thinking helps us think about another choice that may be available while we wait. Students enjoyed listening to this song to understand flexible thinking more!
 
Math
  • Our math focus this week was about picture graphs and data! We had an integrated unit this week with Mr. Cherry in PE class. During PE, students thought of categories they could collect data with. In groups, they collected data by making tally charts, then in math they worked with their groups to turn the data into picture graphs. Students did a great job collaborating with their groups!
 
Literacy
  • We are continuing to focus on r-controlled vowels during foundational skills. Students are doing a nice job applying what we do in our foundational skills routine for reading and writing.
  • During reading this week, students read a nonfiction book and identified what made it nonfiction.
  • For writing, students worked on their materials page for their "how-to" books, worked on reading fluency, recognizing r-controlled vowels and worked on reading comprehension with Ms. Powell.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • This week in social studies, students learned what it means to show pride and what a custom is. We had good conversation about how everyone's culture has different customs for holidays or celebration and students were able to share customs they have in their family!
  • During science students connected force and movement with objects. They worked with a partner to investigate how they can make one object move by using a force. 
 
We enjoyed ending the week by making Valentine's Day cards for senior citizens and spreading love! Have a great weekend!
Students participated in an OSP training about our bodies and trusted adults. A trusted adult is someone you go to who you can talk with if something happens to you. Students identified trusted adults at home and at school. 
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we continued to share about our emotions. Students worked with partners and came up with a feelings dance for happy, sad, angry and afraid. We are continuing to talk about and work on recognizing emotions (our own and others) and the strategies to use when feeling big emotions.
  • Students participated in a talking circle this week where they shared something that has "bugged" them at school. A lot of students shared that it bugs them when they say stop and their classmate does not stop. (if they are bothering them, touching them, etc.) We went over this as a class and reiterated the importance to stop when someone asks them to stop. This would be great to review with your child!
 
Math
  • Our focus this week was on comparing numbers and subtraction. You can read more about the math chapter here!
  • Students worked on comparing numbers through word story problems and using subtraction to find how many more or less there is of an object. 
  • We will move onto picture graphs next week which will support the learning we did this week!
 
Literacy
  • This week we focused on r-controlled vowel sounds /ar/, /er/ and /or/. We worked on fluency building, word sorts, dictation, phoneme-grapheme and word chains. Our phonics routine has helped with our writing and reading!
  • During our writing centers, students worked on their planning page for their "how-to" books! They also worked on /ar/ words in sentences, fluency building and did some phonics work with Ms. Powell. 
  • We continued to focus on nonfiction and fiction books during reading.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We finished Unit 3 (The United States) for social studies by doing a unit-wrap up activity.
  • RM 100 is loving learning about pushes and pulls in science! We read about forces and explain how objects moved. Students also completed a push/pull sort. 
This week students participated in an allergy drill, reviewing student allergies in the classroom and what to do if you see someone not feeling well. Thank you for continuing to keep our students safe by sending nut-free snacks and food for lunch! 
 
We also had our MOY iReady testing begin. Students completed their Math iReady this week and will do Reading next week. These results will be shared to families when they are finalized.
 
Next week students will be participating in an OSP training. More information about this training was shared via Principal Negrón's weekly update. 
 
Social-Emotional Learning
  • Our SEL focus this week was on feelings. Students had feeling cards (sad, happy, angry, afraid) and talked with a partner about when they feel those feelings. We also read some feeling scenarios and shared about how we would feel in certain situations. 
  • We read the book Penguin Problems which reminded us that sometimes when we complain about things or think about the negative, we also need to remind ourselves what we are grateful for and we can still think positively! 
 
Math
  • We learned about nonstandard measurement this week! Students enjoyed completing various measuring activities in the room such as comparing objects with a string and measuring their body length with a partner using a nonstandard unit. You can read more about the chapter here. 
 
Literacy
  • During foundational skills we learned the new letter-sounds 'er' and 'ar' . We are continuing to review previous letter sounds, working on our blending drill, phoneme-grapheme and fluency building with the new letter sounds.
  • In our writing rotations students started their next writing project which is a "how-to" book! This week we brainstormed ideas and we will start planning next week. Students also worked on building words with 'er', reading with 'er' words, and I met with groups of students and worked on reading comprehension and fluency.
  • In reading we are continuing to focus on fiction and nonfiction books and how we can identify the different types. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • In social studies this week, we learned about some important people in the United States and how they helped our country. We also learned about the Mitchell Museum which is located in Evanston and is a place we can visit to learn more about Native Americans.
  • During science we played a game called "rugball" which made us think about the force that we are using with our hands to move the ball in the circle. We also looked at pictures of objects moving and visualized if the object was being pushed or pulled and what was making it move. 
We had a great week back together after winter break! We ended the week with a visit to our 8th Grade Buddies and had a fun time making a New Year hat with them! 
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we reviewed classroom expectations and routines. We focused on whole body listening, no blurting, using safe bodies, stay focused during work time and lining up when we leave the classroom. Please review the expectations with your child!
  • Students participated in a talking circle sharing about one thing they did over winter break, and one thing they are looking forward to being back in school. 
  • We read the book How Do YOU Feel? and students shared when they felt some emotions and we reviewed strategies to get us back to calm spots when we are feeling high emotions. 
 
Math
  • Our math focus for this week was all about ordinal numbers! Students completed a winter line-up activity where they ordered winter clothes, and practiced using ordinal numbers in word problems. 
  • You can read more about the chapter here. 
 
Literacy
  • During our foundational skills lessons this week, we learned two new digraph sounds 'oi' and 'aw'. Students practiced writing words with those sounds, blending words, working on phoneme-grapheme (breaking apart the sounds) and did fluency building. 
  • For reading we learned the definition of fiction and nonfiction books. Ask your child if they remember what they are! We read the stories The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash and A Nest Full of Eggs. We reviewed what made the book fiction or non fiction.
  • In our literacy centers, students did some new year goal writing, wrote about winter break and our reading and word work focus was with 'oi' words. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We reviewed national symbols in social studies and students learned about national holidays that are celebrated in the United States. 
  • During science we started a new unit! We are focusing on pushes and pulls and how things move. During this unit students will become engineers to construct a pinball machine!
RM 100 did such a great job performing in the Winter Show! They did a great job being flexible and adjusting to our different routine this week 😊 
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we practiced visualizing a sunny day. Students thought about what their sunny day looks, feels and sounds or tastes like. We then talked about how going to our "sunny day" can help us get to our calm spot from a big red (anger) or blue (sadness) spot. 
  • Ms. Cross came into our classroom and read a book about breathing and how our breath can be a tool when we are feeling big emotions.
 
Math
  • Our math focus was all about 2D shapes! Students enjoyed doing various shape activities and meeting our 8th Grade buddies on Friday to make shape snowflakes!
 
Literacy
  • This week we read books by Jan Brett and thought about how the similarities between her stories. We read The Snowy Nap, The Mitten and The Gingerbread Baby. 
  • We had some fun with writing this week learning about poems! We read poems about hot chocolate and snowmen.
  • Students also enjoyed sharing their personal narratives with their classmates! They did such a great job with their writing and are excited to bring them home to share!
 
We enjoyed having Emmett's dad coming in to share about Hanukkah and their family traditions with the class!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we read the stories Splatter and Strictly No Elephants.
  • Students participated in a talking circle about listening.
 
Math
  • Our math focus for the week was subtracting within 20 and working on addition and subtraction word story problems. 
  • Students reviewed the strategies they can use to help them when working on subtraction problems. 
  • We learned a new strategy make ten where we split the big number into a group of tens and ones to help us solve the problems quicker. 
  • Students enjoyed making their own winter addition and subtraction word story problems. 
 
Literacy
  • Our reading focus this week was about how illustrators use color in their story to represent emotions. We read the stories One and What do You do with an Idea?.
  • For foundational skills, we are continuing to work with the vowel teams 'ee', 'ea'. 'oo', 'ou' and 'ow'. Students read stories this week identifying the words with 'ou' and 'ow' vowel teams and worked on spelling words with the 'ou' vowel team.
  • We finished our personal narrative writing this week by making a cover page. Students are looking forward to bringing these home next week!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • In social studies, students learned what a leader is and about the president and vice president. They reflected about learning by drawing themselves as a leader!
  • During science, we learned about plants and animals above and below ground, and the different things they need to live and grow. Students also learned about monarch butterflies and their habitat!
We enjoyed being back together this week after Thanksgiving Break! RM 100 also had a great time at the Chicago Children's Theater on our field trip!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • Students enjoyed participating in different mindfulness activities this week. During these activities, we focused on our breathing and visualizing calm spaces.
  • We finished learning more about students through our final secret students this week! 
 
Math
  • We learned about the make ten strategy to help us when solving addition equations. Students worked on different activities this week practicing the strategy, and worked with a partner to make a poster showing the strategy. Have them show you the strategy at home!
 
Literacy
  • Our foundational skills focus has continued to be the vowel patterns 'ee', 'ea', 'oo', and 'ou' was introduced this week. 
  • During writing rotations, students finished their personal narratives, wrote about their thanksgiving break, reviewed long vowel sounds in word work and worked with leveled texts during the reading center. 
  • During reading this week, we learned about how authors play with language by using rhyming words in books. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We started a new unit in Social Studies which is The United States. We read the book What Does it Mean to be American? by Elad Yoran and Rana DiOrio which celebrates all the different ways to be American. We also learned about different leaders such as the Mayor and Governor. Ask your child if they remember who the Mayor of Chicago or the Governor of Illinois is!
  • During Science we learned about how plants need light to grow. Students observed what happens during the day when there is sunlight/no sunlight and how plants use their leaves to get the light. 
 
Looking forward to seeing families at Book Bash on Sunday!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we read The Little Spot of Confidence, A Little Spot of Anxiety, and  A Little Spot of Love. We talked about how we want to share our spot's of confidence and love to others. Reading the Spot of Anxiety taught us how to find our peaceful spot when we are feeling worried or nervous about something. These would be great stories to read with your child from the library or watch them online!
  • At the end of the week, the students met their 8th Grade Buddy! Together with their buddy, they made a thank you card to a Decatur teacher. They were all excited to meet and get to know their buddy, we will continue to meet with them throughout the year.
 
Math
  • This week we continued to focus on numbers 11-20. Students learned the adding ones and subtracting ones strategies when solving equations. 
  • We ended the week by making some number fact turkeys!
 
Literacy
  • Our foundational skills focus was on the 'ea' and 'ee' vowel teams, as well as words with the 'oo' vowel team. We know that the 'oo' can make sound like in book, or in zoo.
  • During reading, we talked about how characters can learn lessons in stories by reading The Recess Queen, and that words and pictures can show us what characters are like on the inside.
  • In the writing rotations, students worked with 'oo' words during word work, did a thankful writing activity, worked on their middle and endings in their personal narrative stories and read texts finding the different vowel team, CvCe, or CvC words in stories. 
 
Social Studies
  • We finished our unit on Our World. Students reflected about one way they can help take care of the earth!
  • During science we looked at our pumpkin seed growth. Many seeds have roots and are starting to sprout! Students brought their seeds home and you can continue to watch them in your window, or plant the roots to possibly begin to grow your own pumpkin!
 
Wishing families a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the break!
Social Emotional Learning
  • We enjoyed reading A Little Peaceful Spot and A Little Spot of Anger. Peaceful spot taught us a strategy to help us come back to a calm spot if our spots of anger, sadness or anxiety get too big. RM 100 enjoyed getting green "spots" to share our peacefulness in the classroom and school.
  • Ms. Cross came into our classroom and read the story Don't Hug Doug! we talked about the importance of asking someone if. they would like a hug, because some people do not like them and would prefer a high-five or fist-bump instead.
 
Math
  • Our math focus this week was on numbers to 20. Students learned about place value and numbers are made up of a group of tens and ones. They practiced adding and subtracting tens and ones as well as ordering numbers to 20.
  • You can read more about the math chapter here.
 
Literacy
  • During reading, our focus was on how characters feelings can change from the beginning, to the middle and end.
  • Our foundational skills focus was on the long vowel CvCe word patterns, the /ee/ and /ea/ vowel pattern.
  • During writing rotations, students worked on their beginning to their personal narratives, /ee/ sentences, reading leveled texts and practiced sentence writing by figuring out a mystery word.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During social studies, we learned about how to take care of our world. Students learned about recycling and reusing waste. We talked about the impact of not properly recycling or littering has on the environment and animals.
  • We looked at our pumpkin seeds during science and recorded what we observed! Some students seeds are starting to sprout!
RM 100 enjoyed having our fall party this week! Thank you to the room parents and parent volunteers who helped the class participate in craft activities!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • We read the stories A Little Scribble Spot, A Little Spot of Happiness and A Little Spot of Sadness by Diane Alber. Scribble spot taught us to recognize the emotions we may feel such as anger, confidence, happy, peaceful, sad and anxiety. We are reading each "spot" book to learn more about how we identify the feelings we may be feeling and to identify how others may be feeling as well. When we read the Spot of Happiness, we had yellow dot stickers on our hands to remind us to share our happiness spots with others!
  • Students participated in a talking circle about respecting adults. They identified different adults at Decatur who they respect and how they can show respect to them. Check in with your child to ask them if they remember a way to show respect to an adult!
 
Math
  • We spent time this week reviewing addition and subtraction word story problems, subtraction facts, as well as addition and subtraction practice. 
  • Students enjoyed making their own spooky word story problems during Halloween!
 
Literacy
  • For foundational skills we are continuing to review the long vowel sounds in CvCe words, as well as working on our blending and decoding skills.
  • Our reading focus this week was on identifying that sometimes we may feel the same way a character does in a story, and that we might want to be friends with characters in stories. 
  • During our writing rotations this week students did a nice job writing their personal narrative story plan, working on word work with the long 'u' vowel sound, practicing their sentence writing by completing a you choose writing activity and reading leveled texts. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During Social Studies we learned about the ways we can get around and modes of transportation. We learned about the transportation that is special to Chicago such as the "L", Water Taxi, Metra Trains and CTA buses. The class also went on a virtual 'field trip' to Chinatown to explore some sights that is unique to Chinatown.
  • For science this week, we talked about why some trees loose their leaves during the fall and why others do not. We began our pumpkin seed planting experiment to see if we can observe the life cycle of a pumpkin seed!
 
RM 100 was working hard on three classroom goals this week: listening, making good choices and doing our best work. They were able to earn 5 stars which we celebrated with by having a game day on Friday! 
Social Emotional Learning
  • We read the stories How to Hug a Pufferfish and talked about how we need to be asking to give hugs to others, and that sometimes people do not like hugs and we can offer a high-five, fist-bump or hand-hug instead. We also read the book What if Everybody Did That? and talked about how we would feel doing negative actions at school and how it makes us feel when we do positive actions. 
  • We are continuing to learn about others through our secret student!
 
Math
  • We continued with our subtraction this week. Students made subtraction stories, used number bonds to help them solve equations and practiced with addition and subtraction.
 
Literacy
  • This week students did some reflections on how they are doing in the classroom, sentence work and CvCe work with the long o and short o sounds.
  • For foundational skills we are continuing to review the long vowel sounds in CvCe words, as well as working on our blending and decoding skills.
  • During reading we read stories and focused on what the characters do to show them how they feel about another character. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During Social Studies, we learned about our place in the world. Students learned about the different Chicago neighborhoods, what state we live in, our country and continent. They then created their own Place on the Map books!
  • In Science we learned about why leaves change color in the fall. Ask your child if they remember why and you can go on a leaf hunt around your neighborhood to compare the different leaves!
Social Emotional Learning
  • We read the book Feel-O-Saur and it talked about how our feelings can come up at different parts of the day. We are still remembering our strategies if we have high emotions like feeling angry or frustrated. 
  • Students participated in a talking circle about what makes a good friend. Students shared really thoughtful ideas, be sure to check the picture on the website page!
  • Mr. Murray and student council came to our room to talk to us about the school anti-bullying project. Students decorated orange links, writing and drawing pictures about what being kind and a caring friend means to them. 
  • Ms. Beard came into our classroom and we learned about her job and how she helps students and teachers at Decatur!
 
Math
  • We started our next chapter in math which is subtraction! You can read more about the chapter here and ways to support learning at home. We learned subtraction as taking away, and taking apart. Students learned about the counting back strategies and how we can use number lines to help us solve equations.
 
Literacy
  • During reading, we focused on understanding character's and their feelings. We know that stories have important characters and that the character's faces and bodies can show how they feel. 
  • In foundational skills, we are continuing to practice with our long vowel sounds and CvCe words. 
  • Students learned about our first writing project, which are personal narratives! In our writing centers for this week students brainstormed ideas for their writing, spelled words with long and short i and a, and practiced making sentences.
 
Social Studies | Science
    • We learned about neighborhoods  this week and important places that are in neighborhoods such as grocery stores, libraries, post offices, police stations, fire stations and hospitals. Students got to design their own neighborhoods by including some important places!
    • During science we talked about seeds. Students learned that plants grow from seeds, and the different parts of a plant. We learned a movement about how plants grow, ask your child if they remember it!
 
We had so much fun during Jogathon! It was fun to see families come to cheer us on!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we continued to focus on our calming strategies for when we are feeling big emotions. We read the story Miracle's Melts Down and talked about matching the size of our reaction to the size of our problem. If we have a big problem like getting hurt, it is okay to have a big reaction. If we have a small problem like we didn't get a turn, or someone is not sharing we do not need to have big reactions and can think of our strategies before we react to the problem. 
 
Math
  • Students did great work continuing with addition this week! They worked on making addition stories and practiced using the counting on strategy when we solve problems. 
  • We ended the week with a fun math addition craft!
 
Literacy
  • Our foundational skills focus this week was on the vowel team conventions for the long vowel sounds. The sounds we reviewed were /ee/ /a_e/ and /i_e/. For words with the /a_e/ and /i_e/ sounds, they are with CvCe (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent e) words. The long vowel sound reminds us that there will be the added silent e at the end of the words. 
  • We started writing rotations this week! Students moved through different rotations throughout the week working on word work with our /sh/ and /ch/ digraphs, independent reading, working on sentence structure and working with Ms. Powell on writing fall sentences. We also reviewed what a sentence is, and our sentence writing checklist. Ask your child if they remember what a sentence needs to have!
  • During reading, we did an author study about Peter Reynolds. We read the books Be You!, Ish, and Say Something! and talked about what we observed with his books. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We started our Unit 2 in social studies which is Our World. We spent some time reviewing our school as a community and learned what a map is. Students created their own maps of the classroom!
  • During science, we solved the answer to our question: Why are there no more monarch caterpillars since the field was turned into the garden? We discovered what monarch caterpillars need to eat by reading a plant resource book. Ask your child if they remember what the caterpillars need (hint: milkweeds!) and see if you can spot any milkweeds in your neighborhood or at the park! 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week, we read the story Ravi's Roar and talked about our feelings when we feel angry. We talked about different calm down strategies that we can use to help us get back to a calm spot. Ask your child about what strategies they can use!
  • We learned about a member of our school community, Ms. Doggett, by welcoming her into our classroom for a interview! 
  • We continue to enjoy learning more about classmates every week with secret student!
 
Math
  • Our math focus this week was on addition! Read more about the math chapter here and ways you can continue to support the learning at home. 
  • Students learned that addition as putting things together and adding more. We also focused on adding with the number zero and using number bonds to help us add.
 
Literacy
  • Our reading focus this week was on problem and solution. We read stories and focused on how they have a problem that gets solved, and that when we read stories we can predict how the problem might get solved. Next time you are reading with your child, ask them to identify the problem and solution or talk about strategies to solve the problem 😊
  • During foundational skills we learned a new letter sound /ee/ and words that have the /a_e/ sound. With those words (CvCe) words, we have a silent e at the end because the vowel sound makes the long sound and has a consonant after it. 
  • For writing we read the story The Color Monster which helped us identify emotions to colors. Students thought of three Color Monster feelings they have most often and drew and wrote about those feelings. 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We finished our first unit in Social Studies with our focus on community this week. We talked about the different communities we are apart of, our rights and responsibilities and our school community. RM 100 thought of ways they can help the school community and we are going to share these outside our classroom!
  • Science this week was all about habitats! We learned about what a habitat is, and explored different types of habitats and thought about what kind of animals could live in that habitat. Ask your child a habitat they remember and an animal that could live there! 
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • We are continuing to build our community during our SEL time and getting to know each other through secret student!
  • We read the book Hands Off, Harry! and reviewed personal space and hands to self. This week we also reviewed  some of our classroom expectations, especially getting in our line to get ready in the hall and listening the first time. Please take some time to review them with your child!
  • Ms. Cross came into our classroom and read us the story Ruby Finds a Worry. We talked together about what a worry is and what we can do to help our worry -- talk to a trusted adult to share about it, or a classmate, think about tools you can use to help.
 
Math
  • We continued with our number bond practice this week and worked with number bonds to 9 and 10.
  • Students enjoyed making number bonds from dominos and playing different make ten math games with our math tools!
 
Literacy
  • For our foundational skills, we reviewed letter sounds and blending drills. Students worked on a sort finding the short vowel sounds in CvC words. 
  • We continued to talk about the story elements in writing and reading this week. Students worked with a peer and practiced oral storytelling by rolling a dice to find a character, setting and event for a story. They thought of a story with their partner and shared the story with another group. RM 100 had a lot of fun listening to others stories. Next time you read a book at home, ask your child if they can identify the story elements!
  • We read Julius, Baby of the World and Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes. We talked about what we observed with the books Kevin Henkes writes and made connections that the characters are animals, they have different feelings and that the books he writes are sometimes about kids or families. 
  • Students worked on their retelling story skills after reading the book Giraffes Can't Dance!. They identified the main characters, setting and what happened in the beginning, middle and end with a fun craftivity for Friday!
 
Social Studies | Science
  • This week in social studies, students learned about what laws are and who community helpers are. We learned how laws have changed from the past, and that laws can change because they are not fair for everyone. 
  • In science we talked about animal needs and the types of food animals eat. Students participated in a animal gallery walk around the room to observe animal picture cards and the foods they eat. We compared the pictures and found similarities between the types of food different animals eat.
Just a reminder that Picture Day is on September 28th! Check the picture day post to get more information!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week, students continued to practice talking with a partner and having turns in a conversation. Students shared about how they knew their partner was listening because they were facing and looking at them.
  • We learned more about students through our secret student!
  • We read the book Harrison P. Spader, Personal Space Invader. This book reviewed personal space and boundaries with other people. We continued to review personal space throughout the week, you can ask your child about personal space and what it means!
 
Math
  • We continued some number bond practice this week by making number bonds to 6, 7 and 8. Students worked on finding the missing whole with number bonds and the missing parts. 
  • Students also made their own family number bonds by thinking of different combinations of how to represent everyone in their family!
 
Literacy
  • During reading, we learned about visualizing which helps us with understanding the books we are reading! Visualizing is making a movie or picture in our mind when we hear words that are being read aloud, ask your child if they remember what visualizing means!
  • We read Owen by Kevin Henkes and started the story A Bad Case of Stripes to help us with our visualizing.
  • In writing, we learned about different parts of a story. Understanding the different parts of a story is going to help us when we begin writing our personal narratives! Students learned about characters, setting and beginning, middle and end. Students enjoyed reading books with peers and identifying the characters/setting and creating their own settings for Decatur teachers!
  • For foundational skills students learned about the hard (i.e. that) and soft (i.e. thumb) /th/ sounds and how the tongue placement behind or in front of our teeth differentiate the sound (this is a tricky concept!). We also reviewed the double letter spellings for consonant sounds /ff/, /ll/, /ss/, and /zz/.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • In social studies we talked about rules. Rules are important because they help keep us safe, and so we know what to do. As a class we also talked about how we can be fair in the classroom and during our school day. We talked about how we can be problem solvers in our classroom, and read the book Stuck by Oliver Jeffers.
  •  During science we learned about living and non-living things. We sorted through different picture cards and talked about what we noticed with the different categories. Then, students worked with a partner to sort the living things into animals and plants. We talked about how scientists sort and classify things they find or observe during different investigation!
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week students continued to practice taking turns having a conversation.
  • We continue to learn more about our classmates through secret student.
  • We read the story Friendship is Like a Seesaw and talked about how sometimes friendships can have ups and downs. During the down time, a friend may have done something that didn't make us feel good. It is okay to take some time apart, get an adult's help and tell the friend how they hurt your feelings and then figure out how to make things right in the friendship.
  • Ms. Cross our school social worker read the story The Boy with Big, Big Feelings and we learned that sometimes we can have big emotions and that big emotions are okay! We can use different tools to identify our big emotion and either help us feel better or share the big emotion.
  • Students participated in a talking circle about listening. They shared about why it is good to be an active listener at school, and one thing they can do to be a better listener at school. Students did a great job sharing and listening to their peer's thoughts!
 
Math
  • This week we went over the terms greater, fewer, more than and less than when comparing numbers. Students worked with groups of objects and compared them to see what had more and less.
  • We started our second chapter which has us learning about number bonds! You can read more about the chapter here. Students learned about what a number bond is, and how we can use number bonds to add two numbers together to find the whole. Students enjoyed playing number bond games, creating their own number bonds with a dice and using our math tools to help us with our work.
 
Literacy
  • For foundational skills this week, we reviewed all the letter-sounds, and began to learn about blends (two letters that make one sound). Students are starting to apply their foundational skills knowledge (especially blending) to help them with their writing.
  • During reading, we reviewed who authors and illustrators are in stories. We are doing our first author story by reading books by Kevin Henkes. This week we read Chrysanthemum. Next week we will continue reading books by Kevin Henkes and talk about what we notice with his stories.
  • RM 100 worked so hard on finishing their wordless books this week! They reviewed their craftsmanship to include details in their pictures, added a title page and rated their work using a rubric. Students also enjoyed sharing their books with their classmates! 
 
Social Studies | Science
  • During social studies, we talked about what we do together and cooperation. Students reflected on cooperation by drawing and writing about how they cooperate in school.
  • In science we read a story called Science Walk and reviewed how our 5 senses are tools scientists use to make observations around them. Students did some partner reading and identified living things. We will be going on our own science walk around Decatur next week!
We had another great week of learning! This week students participated in an iReady assessment for Math using iPads, they will be doing the iReady assessment for Reading next week. Looking forward to seeing families at our Back to School Picnic tomorrow!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week students learned about how to take turns having a conversation. We reviewed that while one person is talking, the other person is actively listening by looking at the person, and thinking about what they are saying. When the person is done, the partners switch turns. 
  • Our school social worker, Ms. Cross came into the classroom and read us the story Grumpy Monkey. The story talked about how sometimes different things make us feel grumpy, angry, or frustrated and that is okay! We can use different tools such as taking deep breaths, taking time alone or even getting a snack to make us feel better!
  • We continued to have two more secret students this week and learned more about them.
  • RM 100 participated in a talking circle about Safe Bodies and how we use safe bodies in our classroom and outside at recess. Students shared how it makes them feel when someone hurts them by pushing or hitting, and what we can do to have a safe body in school. One student shared "stop what you're doing and think is this okay or not okay", and other students agreed that it was a good think to think about!
 
Math
  • We explored different math tools (manipulatives) and thought about how we will use them to help us in our different math lessons.
  • We started our first math chapter -- Numbers to 10. You can read more about the chapter here. Students reviewed the different ways numbers can be represented and practiced subitizing (recognizing a number without counting) . We will continue with our first chapter next week.
 
Literacy
  • For foundational skills students continued to review letter sounds and practiced handwriting. They also learned different trick words (some letters in words that have not been learned yet and/or have irregular sounds. i.e. of, all, is).
  • We are continuing to establish our reading routine in the classroom, reviewing how to treat our classroom books and what independent/partner reading looks like and sounds like.
  • Students started becoming authors and illustrators by creating their first books! We read A Squiggly Story and students brainstormed about four things they love, they then choose one thing and drew pictures to create a wordless book. We will continue to work on these next week.
 
Social Studies | Science
  • We started our first social studies unit -- Getting Along Together. Students learned about the words alike, different, unique and respect. With a partner, students used a venn diagram to identify what they had in common and what was different about them.
  • Students explored our first science unit -- Needs of Plants and Animals. We identified a problem that we have to solve, and reviewed how scientists use their senses when making observations.
RM 100 had a great second week of school! The students are becoming more familiar with our classroom and school routines and expectations. We enjoyed having dance party Friday today to celebrate the week, read below for some highlights of our week!
 
Social Emotional Learning
  • This week we continued to talk about our whole body listening during our whole group time. When we show whole body listening, our ears are listening, eyes are towards the speaker, our mouth is quiet, brain is turned on and our hearts are showing that we care. You can use this poster as a reference with your child!
  • We had our first Secret Students this week! During Secret Student, we learn more about our classmates by asking them a get to know you question. We will continue to have this every week!
  • This week students participated in a talking circle with our recess monitors to welcome them into our school community. We also had a talking circle about kindness and how it feels when others are unkind to us. Students have been doing such a good job spreading kindness in KINDergarten!
  • We read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and talked about how we can be bucket fillers. Bucket filling makes us feel good and other people feel good around us. Sometimes our bucket may be dipped into and we feel sad. If that happens, it is important to communicate to others with our words if someone does something that we do not like.
 
Math
  • During math students started getting into our math routine. We went on a math hunt around the school, explored math puzzles and learned about number representation! Students also challenged their brains with our math activities we did!
 
Literacy
  • During reading, we worked as a class to make book bin labels for our classroom library. We also went 
  • For our foundational skills (phonics) students reviewed different letter-sounds, worked on blending sounds together to make words and did some handwriting practice!
  • Writing this week focused on students practicing writing their name with some rainbow writing and doing a write the room activity practicing our letter formation!
 
Social Studies
  • Students shared their family pictures this week! We loved learning about the different types of families in our classroom 😊
 
Enjoy the long weekend, looking forward to seeing families at the Back to School Picnic next Saturday!